Joe Senser (left) is a former football player with the Minnesota Vikings. His professional playing career spanned four seasons and he had some marginal success while playing tight end. These days, he's more well known as being the color commentator for the Vikings radio network, and for owning Joe Senser's Grill and Bar with four locations around the Twin Cities.
Joe Senser's was named as one of the 25 top sports bars in America by Sports Illustrated. (To see my post on the ones I've visited, click here.) Each location has a number of large screen televisions and all the sports packages available via satellite. They also have pretty good food for a sports bar, actually some of the best food at any sports bar I've been to. It's definitely a step above chicken wings and burgers you'll find at the majority of sports bars.
Oh, the menu at Joe Senser's has chicken wings and burgers. But they also offer a number of eclectic appetizers such as Bacon-wrapped Tenderloin Bites, Margarita Chicken flatbread and something they call Homestyle Pizza Spirals - sausage, pepperoni and mozzarella wrapped in a twisted pieced of dough. They're very, very good.
They also feature a number of steaks and chops, including Maple Mesquite Pork Chops - pork chops glazed with a maple syrup and cooked over mesquite. Those are great, too. And they also serve good ol' Minnesota walleye - either broiled or pan-seared with parmesan cheese. Also very, very good.
And surprisingly, they also have some very good pasta dishes. Their seafood fettuccine alfredo is very good, but I really like their Shrimp Carbonara - chunks of shrimp along with cheese stuff tortellini in a white cream sauce, along with Applewood smoked bacon and topped with generous amounts of mozzarella cheese. Then it's baked until the cheese is melted across the top. Oh man! My stomach is doing back flips just writing about that.
The other thing that makes Joe Senser's unique is the amount of imports and micro-brews on tap and in bottles. The selection would rival what one would find at self-proclaimed "beer bars".
On my last trip to the Twin Cities, I stayed at the Hampton Inn just across the parking lot from the Joe Senser's in Bloomington (see map) and I decided to go there for dinner one night. And I ordered the Shrimp Carbonara. And it was typically outstanding. I'm watching four or five Major League Baseball games on a number of televisions, the NBA playoffs are on a few others, a cold beer is in front of me, and I'm having a great meal. It doesn't get much better than that when you're on the road.
Joe Senser's also has some pretty good lunch specials during the day. One day I was in there, they had an outstanding meat loaf lunch special; and another time I was in there for lunch they had a hot beef sandwich - a heaping amount of slow-cooked shredded roast beef served on a large slice of homemade bread and covered with a wonderful gravy. It was just killer. The only problem is that they don't have it every day. I'd go back every day I was in the Twin Cities for lunch if they had the hot beef sandwich available each day.
Most places that I encounter that classify themselves as a sports bar usually only has three or four television sets, a normal selection of domestic beer with a couple three imports thrown in, and mediocre food at inflated prices. Joe Senser's is the antithesis to that stereotypical sports bar. Good food at good prices. The beer selection is eclectic and cold. And there's a lot of entertainment to choose from on the multitude of televisions.
As you can probably tell by now, I really like Joe Senser's. It's one of my all-time favorite sports bars. It's a must stop when I get to the Twin Cities.
It is great to hear that he has a place that you can enjoy food that you don't feel that you are paying a lot with poor quality. As a former football player he did a great job with his sport bars.
Posted by: per head | November 01, 2012 at 01:57 PM